Blended Paths

I've always had a fascination with street photography. This curiosity has been mostly satisfied by viewing the works of my friends who focus on street photography and the work of photographers like Bill Cunningham, who is known for his work with the NY Times and his "trending" photos. Still, in recent years, my curiosity has grown and I have wanted to try my own hand at the art, but there are many problems to overcome. Thus, I have spent time researching as well as thinking on my own terms about my problems in direct relation to shooting in the "streets" and I'm going to share what I've learned or come up with in this post.

Problem #1: I live in a fairly rural area, more than an hour's driving time away from any true "urban" shooting grounds. How can I compensate and shoot where I live? How can I get "true street" shots in my own environment?

Problem #2: I'm timid and I don't want to invade anyone's privacy. What are the laws or "rules" for shooting street photos? How can I approach someone I really want to get a shot of? How can I deal with rejection?

Problem #3: What kind of equipment is best for street photography? Would a telephoto lens help me capture people with more shadiness or does that defeat the purpose? Would a point-and-shoot work best since there's a wider range to shoot with that type of camera? How about my iPhone? I'm really into iPhone photography, but would I seem less "serious" about what I'm doing if I were using such a tool, or would it actually be helpful since most people in my area aren't used to seeing giant SLRs and long lenses being sported around and that might make them more nervous about the whole situation?

Problem #4: I'm a stay at home Mom. I always have my toddler with me and it's tough to take a two year old on a shoot. There are safety concerns, as shooting requires almost as much attention as my child, and there are obstacles like diaper changes and baby boredom. How can I deal with these issues, from a mom point of view?

As you can see, I have some major questions to answer before I really try to head out and give street shooting a real shot. I have some ducks to get in a row and some marbles to get in a jar. These are serious questions for me - not just off the wall, I don't know what I'm doing, questions. Here are the answers I've come up with for myself. Perhaps they can be of use to you.

Problem #1: Rural vs Urban street photography. Bottom line first:

“As crowding increases, people’s personal space requirement decreases. Also, the space one needs and expects is culturally dependent. In some countries people naturally stand, talk and touch each other in public to a closer degree than in others. But there are general unspoken rules. Get too close, “In your face” — as the saying goes, and people get nervous, even if they don’t know exactly why.”

“At a fair, a midway at a carnival, a sports event, parade, concert or public ceremony, people’s need for personal space and therefore privacy is reduced. The level of sensory stimulation is also usually high at these events, which tends to reduce the need for space. As well, in most of these situations people are having fun so they are more relaxed.” Michael Reichmann

This is the crux of my problem. There's never "crowding" where I spend most of my time, and I avoid crowds as much as possible. I tend to stay in more open spaces, and limit myself to a certain number of people around me or I freak out (so the rural thing kind of works for me in that way). Back to the problem: is it even possible to shoot street photography in such an environment?

As it turns out, "Rural Street Photography" is a fairly new concept and is picking up some major attention in the art world. There are no true tips to be found for this, so I decided to create my own for what I think rural street photography could be:

• Street photography is generally about people, but it doesn't have to be about people. Shoot the landscape as much as the people. Buildings, lights, signs, autos - the big picture and the story you want to tell is, in my opinion, more about the environment than the person in a photo - even when you do have a person in a photo.
  
• If the first bullet made any sense to you, perhaps this one will, too. Even though the standard definition of street photography includes and revolves around people, my thoughts always go back to the story being told - what are the people doing? So, I think, for rural street photography, capturing the man on the tractor doesn't mean the man has to be the primary focus of the shot.
• Capture any and every thing that catches your attention. If it's industrial and of some use, it should count. Screws in a pile by the curb. Hay fields and the designs the bailed hay make as they await their relocation to a barn somewhere. The barn itself. Any of these things can help tell the story in the really rural scene.

As I consider more things of interest in this area, I will update (or perhaps blog about this in it's own right) this section.

Problem #2: The Self-Consciousness Issue. Chris Weeks, a well-known street photographer and artist, has answered my question in short: "You’d be better off studying the art of shadowing and surveillance than photography to be a successful street photographer [...] Not some pussy with a scope up in a tree waiting for some hapless f**king deer with no chance against a 30.06." His number one tip? "Street work has more to do with how you blend in to the scene, and less about how good you are with a telephoto lens waiting for your prey." That kind of takes care of the rest of the questions in Problem #2, as well. Blend in. Become part of the landscape. Become part of the environment. Become invisible to the people you are shooting.

Problem #3: The Equipment Problem. The classic technique for "professional" street photography consists of fitting awide (20mm on a full-frame camera) or moderately wide-angle (35mm)lens to a camera, setting the ISO to a moderate high speed (400 or800), and pre-focusing the lens. Not likely to happen for me. I don't shoot film because I can't afford it. I don't have a wide angle lens for my film or dSLR, and I certainly don't have money to buy one. So, for what I have to work with, this is the best solution:

• Start out with a cell phone or a point-and-shoot. Using low profile equipment forces me to be closer to my subjects, therefore forcing me to face my fears of offending or breaking the "space rule" up front. It also forces me to get more familiar with blending in, thus becoming one with my environment and seeing good shots to take.
  
• Another benefit? Back to Problem #1 - the culture I live in will be less like to freak out or find it out of place to see someone shooting "random" photographs with a cell phone or small point-and-shoot camera vs. a great, big, conspicuous dSLR or film camera with a giant lens (wide angle or not, to them any removable lens is going to seem massive - it's their mindset).
  
• And, finally, this method will work well in helping solve Problem #4 - the kid problem. Easy to manage equipment - no worrying about winding/changing film or the hassle of a large camera to work with, I can stuff my phone or small camera into the bag or my pocket for those random diaper changes or snack stops...or even get some fun shots with ease for those, "I'm bored and want to play/walk," moments.

Problem #4: The Kid Problem.  Taking a toddler anywhere is a pain in the butt. Grocery shopping, out for lunch, yes - EVEN to the park. You have to haul a lot of crap, from the diaper bag with half your kid's room in it to the snack bag to the cooler with a wide variety of juice and milk when you go on a farily long-planned outing. Then there's the issue of boredom. Sometimes, especially in this case, the kid has to stay in the stroller a good bit. I can't let him run around the streets at this age - it's not only an irresponsible plan but a stupid plan, and I can't shoot and keep him safe out of the stroller. Just not happening. So, what is the solution?

• Use the big stroller. It's more comfy for baby and has the basket underneath to haul those never-ending supplies.
• Keep a few of baby's favorite small toys/books in the basket for emergencies.
• BE FLEXIBLE. Be willing to miss a few great shots in order to keep baby happy - stop and play, let baby walk and run when we get to the park...
  
• Use baby as a conversation piece to help with the previous discussion of self-confidence. Keep that in mind to stay positive and less frustrated about baby's needs while I'm trying to "accomplish" something for myself.
• Bottom line? Baby always comes first, so this shouldn't be that hard. It's not hard to keep my eye on my son in public - it's almost a natural reaction when he's "loose" to be ever aware of his location and safety status. So, leave the worry at home and have FUN.
• Plan the outing to include specific, preshceduled breaks for diaper changes. I'm pretty aware of my son's potty behaviors and frequencies, so I'd never plan to go try shooting with him before he's had his morning poop, for example. That would just be silly.

More to come on this topic, including photos once I get the chance (who knows exactly when that will be?) to get out and give it a real shot with my kiddo. I'll be sure to take notes (even if it's just in my head) to let you know how the experience was and what I learned. I'm excited to consider getting out and shooting again - in a different environment than the nature I love and am so used to!

Happy shooting!

Recently, a fan of my site asked me for some tips about photography. Specifically, she wanted to know about camera types, programs that I like, and wondered if I ever took any photography classes. I was going to respond to her at that page, but I thought these were such good things to wonder about (especially if you're just getting into photography or are wanting to move forward with photography) that I would just write a whole bloomin' blog! Or, maybe it was also because I was so excited to have someone ask my opinion about such things - the teacher in me, you know...


CAMERA TYPES

So, I'll start with camera types. Technically, the bigger and more expensive the camera, the better quality pictures you get. I believe this with my whole heart. The reason I do is because bigger and more expensive cameras have better processors, sensors, more megapixels, etc. HOWEVER, when it comes to photography and good pictures, you don't have to have all those things or the best of the best to take (or better yet, create) amazing and beautiful works of photographic art. Sure, it's nice to have more megapixels, especially if you want to create and sell large prints, but guess what? There does come a point where it DOESN'T really matter. If I'm not mistaken, anything above around 12mp only serves the photographer better LARGE prints.

I can break my thoughts on camera types into three easy categories: camera phones, point and shoot cameras, and dSLR cameras. I use all of these types of cameras, depending on what kind of shooting I am doing. But, surprise surprise - guess which one I use the most (and by the most I mean everyday, numerous times a day) and get perfectly acceptable quality photos from? My CELL PHONE CAMERA!! I have an iPhone 3Gs, which has just over 2mp and a built in autofocus (the only way to focus it...lol). Because of the apps (which I will discuss when I talk about software), you can do millions of things with photos that leave them still being PHOTOS and not true manipulations (which is another issue I will blog about soon *making self note*). The point and shoot camera I have is the Canon PowerShot SD780 IS, and I love it. It has something like 12.1mp (how pathetic that I can't remember - but that tells you how important that was to me when I bought it - I just wanted something above 6mp). The only reason I actually bought this camera is that it was on sale for $90. A $300 camera for $90? Heck yeah! It's an amazing little camera, does pretty good close-up shots and does amazing things with kids (kids are hard to shoot, especially babies, because they move so quickly).

My other camera (which is accompanied by so many pieces and parts and add ons and lenses that I have to lug a 50lb backpack around when I take it out) is a Pentax K110D that I got by trading a laptop with friend. This camera is just above 6mp, but it offers me a lot of options I don't have with the other cameras I own/use. The dSLR (Pentax) allows me to choose between a number of lenses, which is great for certain situations - like when I'm TRYING to get that "perfect" shot, or when I'm shooting people or nature (especially nature). You never know what you'll see or how close to or far away from you it will be - so having the option to choose a tele-macro lens or a few macro filters on a 55mm kit lens or any variety in between - as well as other commonly used filters like polarizers and UV filters - allows a lot more room for getting the shot you want to get. It also requires a lot of time - a lot of time changing things and swapping this and that and fiddling with settings, and when I'm shooting nature that's often a downside because hey - nature is sometimes fast (OK, MOST of the time fast) and I can't keep up if I'm having to do all those things/settings...so I miss a lot of good shots, too.

Alas, the truth of the matter - what I feel in my heart - is that the camera doesn't make the photos a person takes good. It's the PERSON. Any photo, whether taken with an expensive camera (which, btw, my SLR was only about $600 and the accessories I have added to that probably only add up to about $1000 total - so that's pretty cheap in the camera world) or a cell phone camera or even a toy camera, is a mixture of two things: the way the camera molds the light into some image the naked eye can visualize and a representation of what the person who shot the photo actually saw.  After all, what IS a photograph, technically? It is just painting with light - capturing light and shadows and making a tangible image out of the cosmic debris around you. That's why I always refer to my "stuff" as pieces of cosmic debris!

PROGRAMS

Programs. Now that is a tough thing to talk about. Why? Because there are SO MANY programs out there for working with your digital photos. A lot of people, even professional photographers, go on and on about how any photo shot with a digital camera and then "reworked" in any software program is basically like cheating - it's manipulation and it's not the actual photograph and it's not the "real thing." I DISAGREE OPENLY.Why? Because, while there are certain things you can do with a photograph in software that cross the line of what the "original image" was, generally speaking you have to be REALLY good at digital art to do those things. Because, while you can do a LOT of things with software, 75% of them are only the new age equivalent to photo processing that was done with chemicals and paper and dark rooms, etc., minus the need for time, waiting, well - err, chemicals... It's clean, it's fun, and it's definitely NOT the easy way out. Processing photos in software can be very challenging and difficult and mind-boggling at times - until you learn the program, just like "getting with program" with traditional processing. Once you know what you're doing, it's like anything else in life - it flows through you like your urine when you go pee.

Programs I like are Adobe Photoshop CS3 - haven't been able to afford any recent updates, but why bother? For the little bit of processing I do, it suffices and THEN some. I also used Lightroom for some time - I really loved that program, but I moved away from it when I realized I was spending more time seeing flaws in my pictures because of that program than seeing my pictures for the beauty they held (in my eyes) on their own. Currently, I use Photoshop CS3 to do the following things, all except one of which (digital watermarking) are normal post processing procedures that can be done with traditional processing.

*cropping and resizing images - especially for web posting
*sharpening images for web purposes (not the originals)
*vignetting
*contrast and curve adjustments
*watermarking

I kid you not - this is the extent of my "post" processing repertoire, and I am unashamed to say that I have no desire to learn more as far as Photoshop is concerned. I DO want to continue working towards taking better photographs with the camera, and I'll let you know when I get there.

As for apps, which I mentioned above, for the iPhone - wow. It's the same kind of deal as what I've just written about Photoshop - general effects and procedures that can easily be done traditionally, therefore NOT "cheating," and for oh so cheap (in most cases, and aside from the cost of the iPhone itself, which weighs itself out for me because of the fact that I use if for phoning, texting, iPoding, gaming AND shooting. So. Yeah. An all in one device that I'm addicted to for only $199? Yeah - that's right, I bought it. Most apps are between FREE and $5 (that I have, and only one was $5). I have a blog post HERE that discusses some of the apps I have and have had in the past, which I need to update as I've gotten some new ones recently.

I have, in the past, done some posts about Photoshop and tips/tricks, that sort of thing, and I will do some more of those (and link back at my fan page some of the older ones) with specific tips/tricks - most of which can be done in any other program, like the FREE gimp, though perhaps not in the same way or same steps.

CLASSES

No, I've never taken any photography classes. Everything I know about photography I have taught myself or learned from my dear friend and mentor JR - and I guess the truth is that when it comes to digital photography, we've more learned together than anything else. I've read a lot of books, a list of which I will try to blog at a later date if anyone wishes me to, and I've read a lot of articles online and in magazines. Popular Photography often has wonderful articles in their magazine and online. But, I have to be honest and say that I learned most of what I know - most of what I use in every day situations, from my activities and correspondences at deviantART (when I was very active there) and from SHEER PRACTICE AND TRIAL AND ERROR. Photography, in my opinion, is not something you can really learn completely, in the sense that you can't learn to have an eye for a scene, you can't learn to have an eye for photography, from someone else - you just have to practice and try different things and see where your own creativity takes you.

ADVICE

My advice about photography, for those new and/or aspiring photographers (of which I still am one, in a sense) is this: first of all, SHOOT WHAT YOU LOVE. If you hate architecture, you're never going to take breathtaking architecture photos. If you hate nature, you're NEVER going to make it sitting in the middle of the woods or on top of a mountain you have to hike, etc., much less get good pictures once you get to your destination. If you love people, shoot people. If you love cars, shoot cars. If you love brownies, shoot brownies. If you love rocks, shoot rocks. Do this first - and then move on to new things as you tire of others. Let it flow - photography is kind of like a human relationship or marriage: if you don't have a passion for it, you're never going to make it work. If you do have a passion for it, or for a thing or subject that you want to capture and are willing to practice and learn, it can blossom into so much more than you ever expected. Never give up on yourself when you keep getting it "wrong," because in photography there are a lot of technical rules, but there is never a "wrong" if a shot is from your heart. Yeah, you'll make mistakes and shoot blurry shots and shoot even some really shitty ones, but even those are not "wrong."

For more specific answers, feel free to e-mail me questions, DM or @ me at Twitter,  or comment on this post!

I hope all I've written inspires or helps you - this is for you, April! But also for all the others out there like you - with questions and passion!

Yes, it is!!

This is a subject that has been on my mind for quite some time, the reason being that many times when I post images I am asked a couple of repetetive questions: the first is, "what editing software or functions in that software did you use to get the photo to look like this?" and the second (or most common question) is, "Did you edit it (usually with some specific thing they think I've done to edit it)?"

Well. 95% of the time, the answer to both those questions is a simple, "no." I generally do not edit my photos in a program, though I do use Photoshop to make them web ready (I size them down majorly and do some things to improve quality of the pictures because of the resizing, but don't edit the image itself, as in how it appears originally). These are the steps I take using Photoshop to edit my photos for web posting:

1. Resize the image (usually to 600 or 700px by whatever the auto-matching number is for the other sie of the image - portrait vs. landscape).

2. I create a duplicate layer of the image.

3. I use a sharpen mask set at a very low standard to sharpen the smaller image, thus improving viewing quality of the smaller image.

4. Sometimes I do step 3 twice and lower the opacity of the second layer copy.

5. I add my watermark.

6. I use "save for web and devices" and save the image as a .jpg (generally) or a .png (sometimes, if I have done something and forgotten to change it back to .jpg).

So that's the majority of the editing I do. I do have some actions that I have created in Photoshop and a few that I have downloaded that I use to help better the brightness/contrast of images or levels of images (shooting in natural light doesn't always get you great results, no matter what you do with your camera, because digital camera sensors are, well, VERY sensitive and often misread the lighting, and I don't have any fancy light meters or anything of the sort). Generally, this is the limit to my editing, unless I purposely want to add an effect to the image and usually those effects are obvious.

When I shoot, I use my camera to do literally 95% of the work. Well, my camera combined with my eyeballs. There is no point in having even an intro level dSLR ($600 or so), much less an expensive model, if you're not going to utilitze the abilities and tools you have paid for. That's my philosophy and it's just for myself. I have no problem with people heavily editing images in editing software - there is a huge gray area that involves editing that is NO DIFFERENT THAN EDITING IN A DARKROOM, just like the old processes, only you're doing it digitally (which is worth a whole blog in itself). I just don't have time to do that sort of editing, and my personal goal is to gain knowledge and skill by using my camera; I do not want to depend on a program on my computer to make my images good or better - I want to be able to do that on my own. That's how I learn, improve, and gain the knowledge to share and possibly help others learn about photography.

That said, I have to say this: I DO use filters and even things like women's stockings, etc., to create effects with my camera that can be emmulated in design or editing programs like Photoshop, but it's much more fun for me to do that kind of thing manually. There is a line when a person does cross over from photo editing to the equivalent of digital art with manipulation and REALLY heavy editing of photos, but I don't have the knowledge of any program to do that, nor the desire, patience or time to figure it out. So basically I guess I am saying I am computer stupid when it comes to such things. I've insulted myself, but that's OK.

My intent here is NOT to insult anyone who edits their images - as I've said, I have methods that are considered editing for web posting, and I enjoy graphic art and photomanipulations as much as any art lover does. I just wanted to do a semi-quick post explaining my methods and answering that all too common question about my photos. :-)

Have a great Thursday!!

Recently, I have had a couple of people bring to my attention that others have brought to THEIR attention that blogging is a good way to promote photography, and even yourself, as a commodity. This is true! The general question is: how do I blog, where do I start, what do I do. Well, as I said, that's pretty general. So I hope with this post to give some options, tips, and suggestions from personal experiences to help at least get those people started with blogging.

First of all, it's important to note that there are MANY blogging tools available, and each one has pros and cons when it comes to abilities and difficulty levels. Some are fairly straightforward; some require some knowledge of HTML in order to make your blog look and feel the way you'd prefer (some of which is very simple, like the alignment tags and such).

If you know nothing about HTML, you can visit W3Schools.com for awesome tutorials on lots of things language related - from HTML (which is what I have linked) to CSS and on.  Being able to read, even only somewhat understand, and copy and paste works wonders - and the more you do this, the more you learn the language and can use it to build a blog (even via a blog service) the way you want. HTML is probably the easiest language ever created and it is totally web-involved. I will try to do a post with basic HMTL information soon.

As far as blog services, as I mentioned, there are many free ones - some of them have options for paid accounts that basically eliminate ads on your blog page and allow you more opportunity to use themes or layouts for your blog that you don't have to create - this relieves the issue of having to have extreme knowledge of HTML for design purposes. Following is a list of blog services that I have used and found to be really good.

The best blog services for beginner bloggers, especially those wanting to share photography, are Blogger and Xanga (again, in my experience). While there are MANY options to choose from in the list of blog services, I have found these two services the most straightforward and the most user friendly.

As with any self-taught endeavor, whether it is photography or blogging or website design or cooking or crafts like crocheting or knitting, reading and practice are the key. You learn as you go, so the first suggestion I have is to be patient with yourself. The second suggestion I have is to know what you want to get out of your blogging experience. If you simply want to share photos with captions or stories, Blogger is great as a starting point. I like Xanga because it is more community based, and as you make friends and your blog gets out there more, my experience has been that Xanga offers more feedback than Blogger; however, this is not a fact written in stone. With any blog, self-promotion is key. Sharing link-backs for your posts and blog in general via Twitter, Facebook, or other social networking tools is a key to promoting yourself. It's really good to have a Facebook Fan Page devoted to your photography where you share your blog post links. The more of a following you build (which takes time), the more feedback you get, the more suggestions and requests you get, etc.

Here is a full list of blogging services I have tried:

WordPress

Xanga

Blogger

Tumblr

LiveJournal

and, of course, the blog application associated with this website...

Another place that allows you to post "journals" (basically, blogs) is deviantART. deviantART is an art community that allows you to upload your content into a sort of gallery, and also gives you blogging/journaling capabilities. Again, this is a nice option because a) there is a free version, and b) it's a community based system - although, I must be honest and say that recently deviantART has become rather dramatic and filled with less serious artists/photographers and seems to be turning into more of a "Photobucket" type site. The quality there is lacking lately, it seems - BUT, this could be a definite plus for serious andaspiring photographers with more than "snapshots" to share. My issue, and what drove me away from deviantART, is the overhead involved in keeping up with the site. It's almost like a full time job to keep yourself in the loop and keep yourself promoted there. This service also allows print services, but they are rather expensive and the artist makes very little commission from sales of their art. Things have changed a lot with this service, and I am not currently aware of what the free accounts offer...

Alas, regardless of what service or community you choose, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when making this choice: how much time do you have or are you willing to put into the process? Do you want to be a part of acommunity that requires a lot of time (with a pro of connecting to other aspiring photographers and a con of a serious time issue), or do you simply want a private blog (like the ones in the list above) to share your work and have little overhead as far as time? The learning curve is much less steep with some of the community sites because of the tools they offer for sharing your work/blogging your work, but the overhead in maintaining those type of sites is MUCH steeper.

Here is a list of such community sites:

deviantART

PictureSocial

RedBubble

Artician

Again, I have only listed communities/sites I have used or tried personally. Of these, I would have to say the PictureSocial is the most professional true "community" site, but RedBubble is an excellent source and seems to have the least overhead involved. Also, selling your art through RedBubble is much more efficient and leaves you more room for profit than deviantART. I'm not certain that Artician or PictureSocial even have (at this point) print services.

Going back to blogging alone, my suggestion for a beginning blogger is Blogger. This service offers you the most leeway for personal design and setup of the blog. Its generally a one page/site blog with each entry linked. Uploading and sharing images in posts is fairly easy. There is little or no overhead with Blogger. THIS LINK is a review of the current Blogger setup/tools and may give you an idea of what others think about the site. Blogger is simply more basic and straightforward, in my opinion.

My best advice about this topic is to visit these links, read about these blog services and what they offer, how they work, the cost (again, as far as I know, all of them offer free basic services), and evaluate what you're able to put into learning and using them.

If you have a request for a more detailed tutorial about any of these services, please let me know and I will be happy to try to do a post to help you. In fact, I can also start a forum section for blogging and different sites, based on your input!

Coming soon: A general HTML tutorial (HTML knowledge is not always NECESSARY but good to have in order to make your blog what you want it to be - and it's fairly simple to get the hang of!).

I did a tutorial a long while back about moon photography and what I had learned - mostly including what NOT to do when trying to shoot the moon. It's been a long time since I've studied the topic, or even tried to shoot it, so I'm not even going to begin to try to write a blog with tips and tricks and suggestions and advice about moon photography because I've been attempting to shoot the moon, as it were, for ages and am still far from getting that shot that I've been aiming for.  However, in honor of tonight's full moon, and since I looked all this stuff up anyway, here is a list links to amazing articles, suggestions, and tips concerning moon photography. If you love the moon and have a hankering to shoot it, this is especially for you!

Moon Photography Made Simple

Moon Photography How-To

Sky Related: Moon Photography 

Shooting Moonscapes

Lunar Photography

I hope these links provide you with some useful information and that you learn something you need to know from them - and that they help you get that shot YOU'VE been aiming for. I hope the same for myself - I can tell you with certainty that I've already learned a lot from them!

Yep, anyone who uses Photoshop or Adobe editing software of any sort knows that the latest version is out (has been out for some months):  CS4.  What's the latest "new thrill" for Photoshop CS4? Why, 3D rendering, of course!!  PS CS4 has not changed much in the way of "layout," but what you see does seem a bit different at first...  If you have upgraded to CS4 and are still a little wobbly in the legs when it comes to utilizing it, check this out:

Black-and-white photography has become increasingly popular once again. When color photography first burst upon the scene, black-and-white photography fell out of favor. It was seen as "old" and "out." But in recent years, we are rediscovering the beauty of black-and-white, and today we admire the power and purity of black-and-white images.

Here are some important elements to consider in taking black-and-white photographs.

Subject
Choose your subject carefully. Some subjects that look interesting in color look dull in black-and-white. On the other hand, black-and-white can create an unexpectedly intimate portrait or transform a simple scene into a dramatic moment.

Photographs of people look especially good in black-and-white. More and more people are having their wedding pictures taken in black-and-white because it makes the photographs look timeless and therefore more romantic. Black-and-white photographs of couples on honeymoon or on vacation can be equally captivating. Whereas a color picture might be a mere record of a trip, a black-and-white photograph captures emotions and impressions with unusual power. When you're in a festive or exciting place, your first instinct might be to take color pictures, but if you've ever seen a black-and-white photograph of a man kissing a woman on a beach, you know how much more compelling a black-and-white photograph can be.

Black-and-white photographs of children and babies are also very beautiful and sentimental. Children grow up, and babies won't be babies forever, so the nostalgic atmosphere that black-and-white photographs create is especially appropriate.

When you're taking black-and-white photographs of people, it is better if they are dressed simply and in solid colors, not in prints. The fewer the elements in a black-and-white photograph, the more dreamy or dramatic it will be.

Buildings, landscapes, and other scenes are also valuable subjects in black-and-white photography. Keep an eye out for the unexpected. The way the light falls on a table, the shadow of a bicycle on the ground, or the swaying of a tree in the wind could be the subject of your next black-and-white masterpiece.

Background
Make sure the background does not distract from your subject. Sometimes moving your subject a few feet to the right or left is all that you need to eliminate unnecessary elements from your photograph. If that doesn't work, try taking the picture from a different angle.

Light and shadow
You could say that light and shadow are all there is to black-and-white photographs. That's why it's so important to use them to your advantage. Take pictures of the same scene at different times of the day and you'll see how important light and shadow are to the mood of a photograph. You can also experiment with different qualities of light. For example, take a picture of a fence on a bright day, and take another picture of the same fence on a foggy day.

Colors
Some colors that are eye-catching in a color picture can get washed out in a black-and-white photograph. The same thing can happen with color combinations. For example, red and green look striking together, but in a black-and-white photograph, the two colors are nearly indistinguishable. It all comes back to subject. Choose a subject that looks interesting or dramatic in black-and-white and does not rely on color for its beauty.

Shapes
Precisely because of its lack of color, black-and-white photography relies greatly on shapes and lines to provide interest. A black-and-white photograph that is all straight lines can look modern and architectural, but it can also look flat. A subject that incorporates slanting lines, crooked lines, or curves generally looks interesting in black-and-white.

Texture
Like shapes, textures are very important in black-and-white photography. The surface of a straw hat has more visual impact than the surface of a baseball cap. If you're taking a picture of your small son, consider dressing him in a cable-knit sweater instead of a T-shirt.

Perspective
In photography, perspective is one of your best friends. It can help you tell a story, suggest relationships, and bring a boring subject to life. The black-and-white photograph of straight lines mentioned above won't look flat if you take it from an unusual angle. If you're photographing a wall of windows, stand near the bottom of the building and point your camera up. If you're taking a picture of your new puppy, stand over it with your camera, and it will look very small and sweet.

Remember, black-and-white photography is beautiful because it creates images that are so personal and meaningful. Experiment with it and have fun with it. A few years from now, when your children are grown and you've moved to a different town, you'll be glad you made the effort to capture what was around you, when it was still around.

Source: Better Black and White Photos

Want to get your photography out there in a different realm?  How about creating and sharing an iGoogle theme using your photography?  Some pictures are more suitable for this task than others - obviously you want to use a photo with a landscape rather than portrait layout...

Want to try it out?  Head over to iGoogle Theme Maker and give it a shot...

If you want to get more in-depth with your theme creation and know a bit about XML, head over to API Theme Info and download the pieces you need.  Instructions are provided if you're not sure what you're doing.

A couple of tips:  one downside to creating a theme is that you can't preview your image - so be sure to give yourself enough width on the crop of your image that it will cover the whole header (of iGoogle) when you click "create".  Once you do this, can't go back.  Another downside is that it takes a couple of days for your themes to show up in the index (if you publish your theme), so you'll have to wait to share your creation with your friends.

With a very little effort, you can take existing photographs of everyday scenes and make it look like they're actually of miniature models.

It doesn't take much to fool the mind of the viewer, but there are a few basic rules you can follow to help convince your audience that they're looking at a railway set rather than the real world; see the section on picking the right photo at the bottom of this page. You'll need a copy of Photoshop CS or later to follow this tutorial.

STEP 1 SET GRADIENT MASK

Open up your chosen image, press Q to switch to Quick Mask mode, then click on the Gradient tool. Set the colours to the default black and white by pressing D, then switch them around by clicking on the double-headed arrow next to the colour chips. Next, set up the gradient as shown above. Make sure you select the repeating gradient type – fourth icon along, looks like a cylinder.

STEP 2 APPLY MASK

Choose where you want the focal point of the photo to be – usually about halfway between top and bottom – and click and hold at that point. Drag the line of the gradient tool upwards, then release it towards the top of the frame; it doesn't hurt to be a little off the pure vertical. You should get something like what's shown above. Press Q again to switch back from Quick Mask mode.

STEP 3 APPLY LENS BLUR

Chose Filter ▸ Blur ▸ Lens Blur to bring up the Lens Blur filter pane. It can take a little tinkering to get the settings just right, but try the above values as a starting place. The Iris section controls the shape of the virtual iris in the lens; a hexagonal iris is most normal, and you could try rounding out the sharp corners of the geometric shape using Blade Curvature. Rotation controls the angle of the hexagon. The Specular Highlights section adds little glints to bright areas, but it's usually not a good idea to drop the value of the Threshold much below 250. Click OK to apply the effect, then clear your selection.

STEP 4 ADJUST CURVES


To add to the feeling of artificiality, bring up the Curves palette (go Image ▸ Adjustments ▸ Curves) and drag the RGB curve to something like the example above. It blows out the colours in the image, and makes it look more as if it's built from polystyrene and lichen. There are a few more of my examples here, and a rolling slideshow of what folks have been doing with this technique here.


NOTES ON PICKING THE RIGHT PHOTOGRAPH

We're used to seeing models from above, so the mind can more easily be fooled by pictures taken looking down than those looking up or at eye level. But almost as important is the lighting in your photo. Models are usually lit by a lamp, so you'd expect to see sharp, directional shadows and bright, almost harsh light. That's partly why the picture of Charing Cross station (left), with its dull, omnidirectional light, doesn't work as well as the picture pointing towards the London Eye (right). Plus, building the model on the left would be the work of years, so the mind tends to be a little more sceptical. Below is the original of the photo used in this tutorial.

Source:  Receding Hairline